Gimmicks in literature (YA)

Here at WCL we love authors who commit to the bit, so here's a selection of books where the author took a gimmick and ran with it.

In this list you'll find interactive books, less linear stories, the same story from multiple perspectives, narratives told through ephemera, and even an abridged version of a book that never existed.

Updated July 1, 2024
W
Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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Replica
Oliver, Lauren
Paper Book
From Lauren Oliver, New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy, comes an epic, masterful novel that explores issues of individuality, identity, and humanity. Lyra's story begins in the Haven Institute, a clandestine research facility off the coast of...
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Semple, Maria
Paper Book
A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears in this "whip-smart and divinely funny" novel that inspired the movie starring Cate Blanchett (New York Times). Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's...
Illuminae
Kaufman, Amie
Paper Book
For fans of Marie Lu comes the first book in an epic series that bends the sci-fi genre into a new dimension.    "A truly beautiful novel that redefines the form." --Victoria Aveyard, bestselling author of Red Queen This morning, Kady...
The invention of Hugo Cabret : a novel in words and pictures
Selznick, Brian.
Paper Book
Don't miss Selznick's other novels in words and pictures, Wonderstruck and The Marvels, which together with The Invention of Hugo Cabret, form an extraordinary thematic trilogy!2008 Caldecott Medal winnerThe groundbreaking debut novel from bookmaking pioneer, Brian Selznick!<...
The arrival
Tan, Shaun.
Paper Book
A truly remarkable work of art that is already one of the most talked-about books of the season."Tan's lovingly laid out and masterfully rendered tale about the immigrant experience is a documentary magically told." -- Art Spiegelman, author of Maus"An absolute wonder." -- Marjane Satrapi,...
The neverending story
Ende, Michael.
Paper Book
Unicorns, dragons, sprites, will-o'-the-wisps- the inhabitants of an enchanted world. And into this world - through the pages of an old book - ventures Bastian, a lonely boy of ten or twelve. But Fantastica is slowly decaying, its Childlike Empress dying. Only a real human being can set things right...
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Riggs, Ransom.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times best-selling series   An abandoned orphanage on a mysterious island holds the key to supernatural secrets in this unusual and original first book in the one-of-a-kind Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series  A captivating blend of...

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